


Like Bowling

by longleggedgit



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-01-19
Packaged: 2018-01-09 06:31:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1142648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longleggedgit/pseuds/longleggedgit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The problem with Kaidoh is, he's too much like bowling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Bowling

**Author's Note:**

> For Ed because she draws me InuKai rimming. :D Thanks to [](http://cmere.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://cmere.livejournal.com/)**cmere** for reading it over for me! ♥

  
The problem with Kaidoh is, he's too much like bowling – Inui can collect data on him until his head aches and his eyes are blurry, but in the end it _still_ doesn’t add up. He's sure Kaidoh's habit of wearing sleeveless shirts is a conscious act, and yet Kaidoh only seems uncomfortable when Inui compliments him on his arm muscles; he knows Kaidoh enjoys the zoo, and yet Kaidoh gets embarrassed when Inui suggests they go together; on Kaidoh's birthday, Inui bought him a notebook with kittens on it, which he has _conclusively_ deduced Kaidoh loves, and yet never once has he seen Kaidoh use it.

It's enough to make anyone a little frustrated.

"Senpai?"

Inui looks up from his seat on a lone bench and Kaidoh is there, dressed in his school uniform again, his athletic bag draped over one shoulder. He looks a little anxious, for reasons Inui can't identify.

"Kaidoh," Inui says, smiling weakly. "On your way home already?"

Kaidoh frowns and shifts his bag. "I just got back from a run," he says. "Everyone else has already left. Did you miss your bus, Senpai?"

Inui glances at his wristwatch – almost five, he indeed missed his bus fifteen minutes ago – and then smiles up at Kaidoh again.

"I was thinking I would walk today," he says.

"Oh." Kaidoh stuffs his hands in his pockets and stares at the ground, which Inui had been expecting, because Kaidoh always stuffs his hands in his pockets and stares at the ground after they've been speaking for four to seven minutes.

 _Now is when he walks away_ , Inui thinks calmly. _He will say 'I'll see you tomorrow, Senpai,' and then he will walk away._

"Senpai," Kaidoh says, startling Inui out of his daze. "Do you want to come over for a while?"

Inui looks up sharply and Kaidoh turns away, his face decidedly red, and Inui thinks _This is it, this is your opening!_ and jumps to his feet.

"Yes," he says in a rush, then, reevaluating the situation, "actually, no."

It's Kaidoh's turn to look up sharply, and Inui doesn't fail to notice the hurt in his expression, which makes him feel simultaneously guilty and ecstatic.

"I mean," Inui amends, "would you like to go somewhere else first?"

Kaidoh's face softens. "Okay," he says, clearly confused. "Where do you want to go?"

 _It's your first date,_ Inui thinks wildly. _It has to be somewhere good. It has to be perfect._

"Bowling," Inui says before he can stop himself.

"Bowling?" Kaidoh furrows his brow and takes his hands out of his pockets – probably in preparation to walk away – and Inui has to resist the urge to curse out loud.

There is no evidence whatsoever that Kaidoh enjoys bowling – the only time Inui ever observed him at a bowling alley, he was unconscious for the larger part of an hour – and now Inui knows he's blown it, he was given this one perfect chance and already he's thrown it away. He wants to kick himself, or at least the bench or a tree. He wants to go home and lock himself in his bedroom and never come out again, not even for school or tennis.

"Okay," Kaidoh says with a shrug.

Inui thinks that if he didn’t have compelling reason to believe Kaidoh would react violently, he would kiss him right now.

"Okay," Inui repeats, stunned. He runs a hand through his hair to revive himself and then grabs his bag off the ground, slinging it over his shoulder without any care for the cloud of dust it brings with it. "Let's, uh – we can –"

"We can take the train," Kaidoh says. "It's only about ten minutes from here."

Inui nods dumbly and follows behind Kaidoh for a few paces before hurrying to catch up with him, wiping some of the dust from his uniform as he goes.

 _This could very well be a disaster_ , Inui thinks, noting the trembling of his hands, but he stuffs them in his pockets and tries to smile anyway.

~

Disaster is perhaps too light a word for the excursion, although Inui does his best to remain optimistic. Optimism is growing increasingly difficult, however, with every gutter ball he rolls. Somewhere around the fourteenth ball, Kaidoh gets up from his seat and approaches Inui, who does his best to look as if this were all part of some elaborate plan.

"Senpai," Kaidoh says carefully. "You keep bowling to the exact same place."

Inui clears his throat. "Well," he says, but any further explanation falls short. One look at Kaidoh's slightly impatient face and he's lost all ability to string words together.

"Just try moving over here." Kaidoh grabs Inui's elbow, and Inui tries not to let his amazement register on his face – it's rare for Kaidoh to initiate physical contact of any kind – as he is tugged a step to the left.

"But the data," Inui says helplessly. "It should be perfect."

Kaidoh looks a little flustered, but not outright annoyed, Inui thinks, which is about as good as he can ever ask for. "I think," Kaidoh says in a slow, even tone, "sometimes it's not as simple as that, Senpai."

Inui frowns, but obediently reaches across Kaidoh to grab another ball. He weighs it in his hand, readjusting his footing for the new location.

"It just doesn't make sense," Inui mutters, half to himself.

Kaidoh smiles at this, taking Inui even more off guard. "Then stop thinking about it," he says.

Kaidoh steps back and Inui takes a moment to shift his body, glancing down the lane and then returning his focus to the weight in his hand. It goes against everything he's ever known, but Inui does exactly what Kaidoh said: he turns it all off, makes his brain completely blank. The only thing he's thinking about is throwing the ball, and he does this, harder than before, without any consideration for spin or velocity or momentum. He doesn't even realize his eyes are closed until they snap open at the sound of pins being knocked over at the end of the lane.

Inui turns around to beam at Kaidoh, who looks very grudgingly pleased.

"You still only got four," Kaidoh says, but neither of them can stop smiling anyway.

They walk to Kaidoh's house shortly thereafter, and despite a final score of something like one hundred and eighteen to seven, Inui can't stop talking enthusiastically about the game.

"It's remarkable, but it still doesn't make sense," he says, dropping his bag to Kaidoh's floor and sitting heavily on his bed. "There has to be a variable I was overlooking."

Kaidoh gives him a skeptical look but doesn't interrupt, setting his own bag on the floor and taking a seat next to Inui.

"I could start everything from scratch," Inui reasons. "There has to be a way to fit it into a formula. There has to be –"

"Why?"

Inui blinks at Kaidoh and Kaidoh flushes slightly, but he doesn't go silent.

"Why does it have to fit into an equation? Maybe some things don't follow data. Maybe that's just the way some things are."

Inui is about to laugh and go about refuting everything Kaidoh just said, but then he catches sight of Kaidoh's face and his throat goes dry.

"Oh," he croaks out.

Kaidoh hisses and Inui licks his lips, and he's not sure who moves first or if they move at the exact same time, but in the next instant his hands are tangled in Kaidoh's hair and Kaidoh's hands are on his chest and they're kissing so fervently that Kaidoh's head smacks hard against the wall.

"Are you –" Inui begins.

"Fine," Kaidoh gasps. He moves away from the wall and climbs into Inui's lap, sliding cool hands up the side of his neck, planting tiny kisses on his cheeks and mouth. Inui makes a strangled noise and tries to kiss back, sometimes meeting Kaidoh's lips and sometimes missing them. His hands drop down to Kaidoh's waist, gripping with unnecessary force, and Kaidoh hisses again, breath skirting across Inui's lips. Inui doesn't even remember sending the direction to his brain to start sucking on Kaidoh's neck, but he supposes it doesn't really matter, because no matter what, Kaidoh is very clearly enjoying it.

They kiss until they're literally breathless, only pulling apart when Kadioh's mother calls from downstairs to ask if Inui is going to stay for dinner.

"Yes," Kaidoh calls back, not even bothering to check with Inui first. He climbs shakily out of Inui's lap and takes a deep breath, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Kaidoh," Inui says. Then Kaidoh looks over at him and Inui promptly forgets what he was going to say.

"Good," Kaidoh says. Inui lifts a questioning eyebrow. "You stopped thinking," Kaidoh elaborates.

Inui can't help but grin, slipping off his glasses to clean the smudges with his shirt. "I'll try to turn it off more often," he says before slipping them on again.

Kaidoh grunts and stands up, offering Inui a hand as he does so. "Only sometimes," he says. "Like bowling."

"Like bowling," Inui agrees, and he takes Kaidoh's hand.

_end_


End file.
